Adrian Garcia for sheriff

Updated 10:45 pm, Friday, October 5, 2012

Garcia has accomplished his goals through hard work and a certain fearlessness.

Garcia has accomplished his goals through hard work and a certain fearlessness.

Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle

Adrian Garcia for sheriff

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

In the 2008 elections, Adrian Garcia received more votes than any other candidate in Harris County. His record in office merits a similar outcome in 2012.

With Garcia as sheriff, a $56 million budget overrun has become a $3 million surplus, overcrowded jails have been brought into line, and rampant county jail deaths are a thing of the past. A sheriff's office that had lost focus, facing civil rights lawsuits and constant criticism just four years ago, is now a disciplined and efficient law enforcement agency dedicated to protecting Harris County citizens and serving the community.

Sheriff Garcia has accomplished this through hard work and a certain fearlessness against an entrenched, good ol' boy way of doing things that may have made life comfortable for some people in the sheriff's office, but not for the people of Harris County.

This has meant policies that didn't exactly please the old guard - like using civilians instead of officers for some lower-level jobs - but saved money in a time of tight budgets and a hiring freeze. And by providing alternatives to jailing mental health patients or non-violent offenders, the sheriff has implemented policy that not only makes fiscal sense, but humanitarian sense as well.

Given his dedication to budgetary responsibility and smart management, it should be no surprise that Sheriff Garcia is one of the few Democratic candidates endorsed by the fiscally conservative C Club of Houston.

This endorsement by the traditionally Republican organization makes even more sense in the context of Sheriff Garcia's opponent, Louis Guthrie, who seems to have little grasp of the budgetary challenges inherent in running the nation's third largest sheriff's office. Guthrie, a Republican, embodies some of the worst failings of law enforcement, advocating a lock-'em-up style whether or not it is the most effective way to fight crime or spend taxpayer dollars.

Now Playing:

As the Chronicle's Patricia Kilday Hart has reported ("Two reasons to avoid straight-ticket voting," Page A1, Sept. 28), Guthrie's career has been plagued by scandal, and he's prone to power trips. He received four letters of reprimand and two suspensions before being fired from the Harris County sheriff's office. Guthrie is not the person the county needs as its top law enforcement officer.

Sheriff Adrian Garcia has demonstrated how local government is supposed to work. He's clearly the better man for the job.